Left without heating during London’s coldest spell in months

A security guard has been left without heating after the boiler his landlord tried to fix for a year finally gave up the ghost.

Ricardo Coward, pictured left, of Lambert Road, Brixton, whose job means keeping some of South London’s most raucous football fans in order, has been left fuming at being left in the cold during London’s coldest spell in months.

He had been promised a new one would be installed by landlord Metropolitan Housing since the old one packed up on January 26. But no installers came and he has not been told when they will.

The clapped-out boiler had a leak, which destroyed his microwave. The boiler required up to 10 visits from engineers last year alone, but each one failed to fix the problem, until they finally conceded defeat in January and prevented it from being used.

Ricardo said: “It’s demoralising. I can’t understand why this should happen in 2018 – it feels like the 1970s. I am screaming at the top of my lungs and no one is hearing.

My son has been unable to visit since the boiler went. I have been given a fan heater but it’s not very effective and it costs a huge amount of money.”

A spokesman for Metropolitan Housing said: “At this time of year, heating repairs are a top priority for us. When our contractor identified an issue with Mr Coward’s boiler, they capped it off and offered him temporary heaters while we made arrangements to replace the boiler.

We subsequently have had difficulty arranging access to the property with Mr Coward so that our contractor can carry out the necessary works. We will continue to try to arrange a suitable time with him so that this matter can be resolved as soon as possible.”